Norwalk Chronicler

Norwalk gazette, Friday, January 14, 1898 · page 11

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n / p pages
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f,‘il..i}{ilERRY RAISING

HOW THEY GROW AND ARE PREPAR-,.

ED FOR THE MARKET.

l’ickcd by Band, Sorted by lilachim-ry
and Transported in Cold Storage Cais—
sh. Injured if Frozen—Often sum in
the \Vest Imbedded in ‘Ice.

The business of raising cranberries

' .s a' peculiar one in all its aspects. It'

‘equires a special kind of ground, con-
;iderable capital and a vast deal of la—
cor, and it is a special trade, more or
fees irregular in its returnsylike all of
its kind. It is the chief industry of
:wo sections of this country, where
iearly all the cranberries used in
America and Europe are raised, and
which it has transformed from waste
dog lands into rich farming commun-
ities. .

The land on which cranberries will
dourish is seldom fit for anything else;
in the state in which it is usually
found it requires about $300 per acre
.‘0 make it fit, so that the transforma-
;ion of a swamp into productive cran-
3erry bog makes it a very valuable
niece of property. The first require-
nent is a peat bottom. This is
iressed by spreading over it a coating
)f seashore sand, into which thesllps
ire stuck, and left to grow at their
awn sweet will. In connection with
the bog there should be an irrigating
litch or reservoir, from which it can be
Iooded at any time. It requires sev-
tral years to determine the worth of a
narsh for producing cranberries, and
he slowness of returns, together with
:he amount of capital required, have
)rought all the largest marshes into
:he control of stock companies.

It requires hand labor throughout to
‘aise cranberries. The chief expense,
)nce the crop is started, is in the pick-
ng, which is largely performed by wo-
nen and children, who receive from
me to one and a-half cents per quart,

for the work, and are able
20 earn from 75 cents to‘ $1
day through the season. The

experienced picker works on her knees,
inmindful of the wet moss, which
4oaks her garments. She thrusts her
1ands through the moss and vines, lift
.ng up the whole mass and rapidly
stripping off the berries with a dexter-
ms movement, acquired by much prac-
ice. The sight of a long line of men
ind women, half a hundred in a group
naking their way on hands and knees
iCl‘OSS the level field is picturesque,
n the extreme, an effect heightened by
;he tattered and variegated attire of
.he workers.

As fast as the berries are gathered
3y the pickers they are measured out
3y the “boss,” and unless they are to
:0 at once to market are packed away
11 boxes for storage. ~ This packing is
lone in what is called “chaff,” the
moss and leaves picked up in the field,
.n boxes with slatted sides to allow a.
‘ree circulation of the air. In this

 

 

vay'the berry “sweats” without decay-
ng and will keep for a long time.

When the berries are to be marketed
hey are screened. The screen is like
in old—fashioned fanning mill and
aerves the double purpose of removing
he chaff and sorting the berries. Be-
ieath the hopper into which the her-
his are pOured are a number of steps
eading down like a flight of stairs,
.vith openings between them. The
:haff is blown out at the side, and, as
.he berries fall from the hopper, they
round from one step to another until
.hey reach the bottom, where they fall
nto receptacles placed there to receive
hem. The hardest berries will bound
nore than the others, and run the
.vhole course of. the steps, falling into
be last box, while the softer ones drop
.hrough the nearer spaces, and in this
way the berries are easily graded. The
lofter ones are shipped to the nearest
narkets for immediate sale, and the
iardest ones are sent abroad 'Or to
iistant points.

England takes thousands of barrels
if American cranberries every year,
1nd the west has become a great mar-
:et for them on account of the scar-
:ity of other small fruits. At present
more cranberries are sold in Chicago
:han in New York or any other eastern
:ity.

Cranberries are not injured by freez-

' .ng, and so it is an easy matter to ship

:hem in cold weather. They are often
;ent as far as Manitoba in ordinary
apen box cars. When they arrive
:hey are frozen into solid blocks of ice.
The sides of the cases are knocked off
and the berries are exposed in a solid
mass, like cakes of ice, except that they
are much more beautiful from their
rich red color. They are chOpped off
exactly like ice, and the citizen of Win-
nipeg is so accustomed to buying his
cranberries en bloc that he doesn’t
cnind it in the least, though an easten—

' 3r would probably object to taking

3 them

in that way, thinking, in his

' prejudiced mind, that the berries are

spoiled—Washington Star.

 

" Fire Mask for Horses.

For the purpose of removing horses
from burning buildings, a fire mask
has been placed on the market, con-
sisting of a hood to cover the eyes and
nostrils to prevent the horse from see«
mg fire or smelling smoke, the device

‘ being easily slipped over the animal’s

head and fastened with a strap. A
mask is supposed to be kept hanging
in the wall of a horse’s stall for instant
use in case of need—New York Jour-
nal.

Accounting for It.

“George Windrig is an enigma to
me. Being a preacher’s son it would
naturally seem that he ought to be
wild and worthless, but, as you know,
1:9. is one of the finest fellows in this
own." '

“Still it must not be forgotten that
the old gentlemen isn’t a very gocd
preacher.”~Chicago News.

 

W EE K L Y - "N () it W' A 1.1 K

CANNIBALS or HAY'I‘I

A FRAGMENT OF DARKEST AFRICA ON
THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE.

Voodooisxn in Its Worst Form the Bell;-
ion of the People' of the Interior—The
Great Yellow Snake as Their Object of
of “'orsliip.

Hayti is little more than a fragment
of darkest Africa close by the shores
of the United States, its inhabitants
being largely given up to the practice of
thé infamous rites of voodoo, while the
cannibalism incidental to that primi-
tive form of superstitious worship pre-
vails to an astonishing extent in every
province. , .

So slight are the relations, commer-
cial»or otherwise, which connect I-Iayti
with the United States that such mat-
ters have obtained little publicity in
this country. The worship of the
Great Yellow Serpent, with its inciden-
tal anthropophagy, as practiced on the
island, has attracted only occasional
“press notices,” as it were. Yet, there
is evidence to prove that scores, if not
hundreds of human victims, nearly all
of them children, perish annually. The
whole republic is actually rotten with
this strange moral disease, and the best

; authorities who have written about it

‘ assert that the government itself sup-

ports the abominable cult,, using its
sectaries as a secret police.

The people of Hayti—the mass of
them, that is to say—have advanced
very slightly beyond the absolute sav—
agery of their African ancestors. The
latter, when imported in the eight-
eenth century as slaves to work on the
great sugar estates, brought with them
their religion, which—variously known
as “Voodooism, “Obeahism,” “Fetish-
ism, “Ju—Ju” and “Mumbo-Jumbo”—is
one of the most ancient faiths in the
world. Practically all of the natives of
the Dark Continent, barring the Mo-
hammedans, believe in it. The wor-
ship of the serpent is its most conspic-
uous feature, and the Great Yellow
Snake—a harmless specie of Ophidian
indigenous to Hayti—was promptly
adopted as a god by the imported ne-
groes. It is supposed to be an incarna-
tion of the arch fiend.

The religious idea of the savage is
the propitiation of the powers of evil,
lest they injure him.
sacrifices, and the most acceptable sac-
rifices, from the view point of the fiend,
is a livingnhuman being. In Hayti the
Great Yellow Snake is never thorough-
ly satisfied unless gorged with human
flesh, and infants are particularly ac-
ceptable. Hence the frequent slaugh-
terings of children in various provinc-
es of the Black Republic, particularly
at certain seasons. .

The population of Hayti is about
1,000,000, and consists almost exclu-
slvely of blacks, with hardly a trace of
white blood. To—day it is almost
as African as the most remote interior
of the Dark Continent. Here is the

JUPITER GALOP. -

CHARLES COOTE, JR.

 

 

.‘. l

 

. Published by the New York Musical echo Co.

' poses.

This requires
lave. come to light.

 

 

true Western home of Obeah—a relig-
ion which exercises a most powerful in
fluence all over the West Indies, even
the best educated white people being
infected with a dread of its mysteri-
ous and truly diabolical powers.

A brotherhood of sorcerers and pot-
soners extends all over Africa. Their
fraternity is of most ancient origin,
and concerning many things they pos-
sess unusual knowledge. In particular,
they are acquainted with vegetable and
mineral poisons, including some drugs
unknown as yet to science. By means
of certain mysterious decoctions they
are said to be able to produce insanity,
paralysis, idiocy, or slow decay of body
and mind in a victim. In Africa these
priests of Fetish commonly act as se-
cret police for the native‘chiefs, smell-
ing out as' witches any persons whose
destruction may be desired. The same
brotherhood runs the machinery of the
Voodoo faith all over the West Indies,
and it is represented in many cities of
the United States by “doctors” who en-
ioy a large “practice" among the col-
ored people, their prescriptions corn-
slsting mainly of “love potions,"
"spells" to destroy enemies, “hoodoo’
:harms, and other “material" of witch-
craft.

In Hayti this system of superstition
ls known as Vaudoux, the word signi-
fying an all-powerful and supernatur-
11 being, namely, the Great Yellow Ser-
pent. All knowledge past and present
dwells in the reptile, but its will can
anly be communicated through its
priests and priestesses. These person-
ages are generally ”distinguished by a
seculiar knotting of their curly wool,
which must be a work of considerable
labor. Commonly they lead most de-
praved lives. Such is the terror in-
;pired by the priests that few women of
the lower order dare resist their ad-
vances. Next to unrestricted licentious-
mess, the highest happiness from the
view-point of a bad negro is unlimited
rum, and in this luxury the offerings
of his followers enable the witch doc-
tor to indulge to his heart’s content.

In Africa the sacrifices to Obeah are
ilways of human beings; in the West
indies the influence of the whites has
Drought about the substitution of
:hicken cocks and goats for such pur-
In Jamaica, during the last
twenty years, only two instances of
numan sacrifice in voodoo worship
0n the other hand
the killing of children by the negro
'anatics of Hayti is extremely common,
md no recent government on the isl-
md cared to grapple with the evil.
‘ndeed, a late Prime Minister was him-
:rlf one of the brotherhood of witch
loctors, and in 1867 the President of
he republic, Salnave, joined the fra-
ernity for political reasons, bathed
:imself in the blood of goats, took part
:i the most fearful debaucheries inci-
lClltfil to the “sacred” rites, and even
irrificcd human victims, it is alleged.
--Itene Beache in St. Louis Globe Dem-
icrat.

-GAZETTE.

 

STUDENT SELF-RULE.

A SUCCESSFUL EXPERIMENT IN COL-
LEGE GOVERNMENT.

 

A Five Years’ Test Near a Large City».
Broken Rules and Penalties—College
Authorities May Recall the Charter at
Will.

Most colleges give free play to. the
democratic instinct only in the infor-
mal and unofficial life of the students,
and have had to submit to the powers
that be in the matter of government.
In the few instances outside of Bryn
Mawr, in which self—government has
been tried it has not been thoroughly
successful, probably because the at-
tempt has not been completed at Bryn
Mawr, however, the entire government
of themselves has been placed in the
hands of the students, and a most suc-
cessful record is shown of a govern-
ment of the people, for the people, and
by the people.

Up to 1892 the‘ conduct of the stu-
dents was intrusted to themselves, and
a system of government through pub-
lic opinion successfully met the needs
of the then comparatively small com-
munity. In that year, owing to the in-
creasing size of the college and the cor-
responding complication of communi-
ty life, the rule of unformulated public
opinion was felt to be insufficient, and
the Student’s Association for Self-Gov-
ernment was formed, and a charter
drawn up to give definite expression to
the hitherto unwritten laws. The au-
thorities and dean of the college for-
mally conferred on and intrusted to the
association the exclusive management
of all matters concerning student life
which do not fall under the jurisdic-
tion of the authorities, which is strict-
»-ly academic, or under that of the mis-
tresses of the halls of residence.

The" sphere of the mistress includes
everything pertaining to household
arrangements, the management of ser—
vants, the various times and seasons,
such as the hours for meals, the hour
for closing the halls, all purely
domestic rules and regulations. If any—
thing goes wrong in the household
economy, complaint is made, not to the
association, but to the mistress, and re-
dress or remedy comes from her.

In accordance with the terms of the
constitution the association must have
a president and vice president, elected
annually, who, ex-officio, are members
of an executive board of five, the other
three of which are likewise elected an-
nually. This board is supplemented by
an advisory board of ten, who act with
the former when requested to do so, or
when a difficult situation is to be met.
A meeting of the whole association may
be called at any time by the president,
and must be called at the request of ten
students. The quorum is two-thirds.

There are several proctors in each
hall of residence elected by the resi-

.0.

 

dents of that ball, who are responsible

 

for the daily conduct of the students, .

and meet at stated periods to report. to
the executive board. The proctor sys-
tem has proved far and away the most
expedient method of keeping general
order and her often ungracious duty is
lightened somewhat by the feeling of
loyalty and personal responsibility
which self-government arouses, to the
extent that often the culprits own up of
their own free will. In fact, the hon—
or basis, which alone makes such a
government in a college possible, is so
firmly established that em cheating
in examinations, an offence which in
most colleges is considered trivial by
the students, is almost unknown, and
the general question of cribbing pres-
ents no difficulties whatever.

The success of self-government at
Bryn Mawr has been assured now for
five years and under circumstances the
most difficult, put to the test, as it has
been, in a college situated Near a large
city. The students 'have' absolute free-
dom of coming and going, and no
strict eye is kept on their actions, ‘so
that did they not submit absolutely to
the authority of the association they
would undoubtedly in the impulsive-
ness of youth get themselves into
scrapes. But they are required always
to register their address before leaving
the hall for a night, even though they

go only to one of the other halls of res— _

idence. If they go to town for the
evening, they must have a chaperon,
appointed by the executive board. In
the daytime—that is, up to half after 6
o'clock—they may come and go as they
like. '

When the rules of the association are
disobeyed a penalty 'is imposed. If a
student. breaks a rule wittingly more
than once she is reprimanded, and if
she receives three reprimands she is
liable to expulsion. .The reprimands
are issued by the executive board, but
the power of inflicting penalties to en-
force 'its decisions rests with the asso-
ciation at large. The extent of the as-
sociation‘s independence of the college
authorities is shown by the fact that it
practically possesses the power of ex-
pulsion, inasmuch as it has the prlvl~
lege of recommending the expulsion of
a student to the authorities, ,who have
given their promise to support the de-
cisions of the body.
extreme a measure as expulsion any
student has an appeal to the associa-
tion.

The five members of the executive
board are possessed of great power and
have jurisdiction over the conduct of
some 300 fellow students, the associa-
tion consisting of the whole body of
students. graduate and undergraduate.
It is therefore, of course, considered a
great distinction to be a member of the
board, and, indeed, the oflire demands
no inconsiderable qualities both of
mind and character. Tact, judgment,
firm‘.es:s, fairness, and above all. a lev-
el b all are cssential.——Chicago Inter-
Ocean

 

 

a- CODA.

527672 1!.

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